The tablet we’re looking at here is essentially a rebranded Zenithink C71, a device which in that iteration ran Google Android. In this Spark release, the tablet will be packaged with the ability to run Mer as well as Plasma Active. You’ll see more than just a little bit of lag here and there, as even though the tablet has a 1 GHz AMLogic ARM Cortex-A9 processor with Mali 400 graphics, we’re still seeing less than suitable power for even this relatively small screen.

The display here is a mere 800 x 600 pixels for the entirety of its 7-inches, and inside you’ll find 4GB storage, 802.11 b/g Wifi, and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. What’s being marketed here is not just the mediocre tablet specs or the software, but the fact that this is the first “truly open” tablet on the market. It has open source software, an unlocked bootloader, and a content store based on the same open sourced platform the OS is on – the store itself can be created and distributed by anyone.

We’ll watch how this project develops and see if the idea spreads to the rest of the tablet / smartphone world. Likely it’ll remain in the wings and “underground” for some time to come. Also check out this demonstration of the Plasma Active interface on a slightly nicer piece of hardware to see its true potential:

[via Liliputing]

The Raspberry Pi $25 PC is essentially a computer motherboard with a low-powered ARM-based processor by the name of Broadcom BCM2835 and a cute set of connections around the Raspberry Pi logo printed on the board near the center. You’ll be running Linux-based software right out of the box and is set to be aimed at education groups, hobby computer builders, and those looking for the cheapest computer on the block. There will be two versions of this device when its released – the basic build for $25, and the slightly upgraded version with internet connectivity for $35.

The board is able to handle 1080p HD video playback, gaming to some degree, and has been shown to roll out on giant screens in testing phases several times already. You’ll be able to see this computer in action within the month and will be able to pick one up for yourself by the end of the month. If all goes according to plan, that is!

[via Raspberry Pi]

The company behind the portable gaming device is said to be ready to ship 4,000 devices starting next month. It has taken four years for the company to get to the point of finally shipping the devices, which is a massive wait in the fast-moving technology world. I think the device would have fared better years back since many mobile gamers have moved on to tablets and smartphones as the platform of choice.

The Pandora has a 4.3-inch resistive touchscreen with 800 x 480 resolution. It packs in WiFi, Bluetooth, a host USB port, and dual SDHC memory card slots. The user can boot from those memory card slots, and the device was intended to run Linux. I bet more than a few will be hacked for Android. The pre-order page for the device lists the device at 375 euros. I don’t see this being as successful today as it could have been years back when first unveiled.

[via Pocketables]

The unit at their booth in CES was very fluid when panning from selection to selection. The TV was able to stream video content, music, and even had a few applications were installed such as YouTube for easy access. Canonical has been known for releasing software that is polished upon release, so it’s hard to tell when we’ll actually see Ubuntu TV on the market.

It will also offer the ability to search, watch, record, and play through TV. They are currently working with multiple manufacturers for a release in the near future, and it seems we’ll end up waiting more on the them than Ubuntu developers. Their devs are quick to the punch and you can bet they want to see their platform expanded to this new market as soon as possible.

There will be a couple of configurations for this machine available at the launch, the larger having a bit more RAM and an ethernet port – we’ll certainly be opting for that. That one costs $35 USD, while the $25 version has half the RAM (128MB) and no ethernet port, and another board has been announced alongside these two as a bit of a bonus: the Gertboard! This bit is an expansion board that can be added to either model Raspberry Pi and is able to do all sorts of fun stuff like “flash LEDs on and off, drive motors, run sensors, and all that other fun stuff.” That voice you’re hearing in your head is again the creators of Raspberry Pi.

In particular you should note David Braben, one of the creators of Raspberry Pi in what’s called “The Computing Project”. He’s also a game developer and the one who essentially dreamed up the project in the first place. This is the first place we’ve seen that such an inexpensive basic PC looks decent enough to actually be worth having a play with. And it’s got that cute raspberry printed on it too! Stay tuned at http://www.raspberrypi.org/ and here on SlashGear for more details as this device drops!

[via Raspberry Pi]

Version 12 of the Mint distro, “Lisa” is now available, escorting in with it a new desktop based on Gnome 3 with some Mint-specific improvements and an open source-friendly search engine called DuckDuckGo. Also, the extras from Ubuntu make Linux Mint 12 take up a bit more space than usual , but you get to use a solid desktop interface that isn’t trying to do something crazy.

The rudimentary system requirements to run Linux Mint 12 are as follows:

x86 processor (Linux Mint 64-bit requires a 64-bit processor. Linux Mint 32-bit works on both 32-bit and 64-bit processors).
512 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
5 GB of disk space
Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
CD/DVD drive or USB port

You can download the most recently released version of Linux Mint 12 “Lisa” here from the official Linux Mint Blog here. Do any SlashGear readers use Linux? Do any of you use either Ubuntu or Mint? Why either distro? Why Linux, instead of OS X or Windows? Leave your thoughts and comments in the comment section below.

[via The Verge]

I don’t see any win in this for Linux. We have seen repeatedly that iOS and Android are very entrenched and even Windows Phone is having a very hard time completing. I see very little hope for another OS on the market we have today. The tip that Ubuntu is heading to the new platforms comes from Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Canonical and Ubuntu.

The move to mobile devices will come after the latest 12.04 version of Ubuntu and the Unity desktop environment is stable, polished and ready for home and business users. Then Ubuntu will target other platforms. Do any of you see a chance for Ubuntu in the smartphone and tablet market?

[via ZDnet]

The first of the new features is support for Wiimotes. With motion controls baked in, the kernel can be used for all sorts of things you can control with your Nintendo remotes and more gaming support. The second new update is the addition of NFC technology. Those are the two big tweaks, but the new update also has more to offer.

Other changes include improved support for Intel Ivy Bridge and Cedar Trail platforms. Power management is also improved. Better power management means that battery life will be longer in devices running the new kernel. The new kernel is available for download right now.

[via Engadget]

If you design a billboard that noone can remember, but whose product they’re all suddenly craving without relent, you’ve done your job. If you’re a creator, an inventor, a scientist like Dennie Ritchie and you’ve worked to create two computer-based inventions like the C programming language and the Unix Operating System, and people use your creations every day of their lives without thinking twice about it, you’ve done your job. The first (and perhaps only) time many people came in contact with UNIX on the surface was the film Jurassic Park in the following classic scene:

The character Lex Murphy hits the computer with the quote “it’s a UNIX system, I know this” followed by some quick clicks (since clearly, as one clever YouTube commenter put it, ” I am familiar with this operating system. That means I completely understand any proprietary security system software written for it within seconds of looking at it.”) The same isn’t true in real life, Lex would never have been able to navigate the security program you see on the screen simply because she’d worked with the operating system before, but the point is that the creators of the movie thought UNIX to be such a forward-thinking OS that they included it in the film for future generations.

In fact UNIX is still in use and has had a major impact on the computing world as we know it. There’s an open-source version of UNIX out there that you may have heard of, too, called Linux. Data centers at Google and Amazon run on Linux, and operating systems like Apple’s iOS (for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch,) are built on Linux.

EDIT: I’ve been corrected by our good friend DrBob! Hear what he’s educated us all on in some well-nutshelled sentences below – thanks DrBob!

Mac OS X (and Darwin) came from Apple’s purchase of NeXT (NeXTStep, OpenStep) in 1996/97 itself a BSD UNIX, based on the Mach microkernal created by Avi Trevanian, there is no Linux in Mac OS X or iOS whatsoever. The confusion commonly arises because folks think that Linux means UNIX, it does not. Linux is a knock-off of UNIX, not the other way around. In fact, Max OS X is one of the very few true, certified, UNIX distributions in the works. There is no such thing as a UNIX certified Linux, and since there is a constant influx of hem made code, there never can be. Linux apps that are well written an UNIX compatible can run in Mac OS X, but the reverse is not true.

Ritchie built UNIX with his longtime Bell Labs collaborator Ken Thompson, and other former Labs partners of Ritchies have been vocal about his contributions to the modern world of technology:

“The tools that Dennis built — and their direct descendants — run pretty much everything today,” said Brian Kernighan, computer scientist at Princeton University and former collaborator with Ritchie at Bell Labs – via NYT

Ritchie’s creation of C, similarly, was made with developers and professional programmers in mind, made for them to work more productively as they coded in this relatively simple to learn and utilize set of characters. At the moment, C is one of the most commonly used programming languages in the history of the world. C inspired C++, a language with application domains that include such gems as Microsoft Windows. Essentially any computer you can see in the room with you right this second has an architecture with a C compiler. For the lay man, that means there’s C everywhere.

The short story: Dennis Ritchie, a man who took part in creating the very brain langue or inspiration for the brain language essentially ALL your devices run on or with, has passed away. Fire up a program in his honor. The image used at the head of this article comes straight from Bell Labs and is entitled “An amusing photo”, noting “Ken (sitting) and me (standing), both with more luxuriant and darker hair than we have now.” – per mister John Holden. Rest in peace mister Ritchie, your legacy will live on forever.

You can currently use this product with most Apple products, that being the iPod Touch generation 3 or 4, the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4G, and the iPad or the iPad 2. This means that, for example, if I were to have one sitting here in the living room, it would erase the need for me to transfer videos to the iPad where I’d normally be playing them from via HDMI to the HD television. Now all I’d have to do is zap the videos from my computer right over to the Wi-Drive, my iPad then instantly having the ability to see them then too. Simple! Have a look at the device here courtesy of Kingston:

This little beast is right around the size of your average smartphone at 121.5mm x 61.8mm x 9.8mm, and the folks at Kingston have let us know that compatibility with Android is right around the corner. You’ll be able to work currently with the iOS devices listed above as well as Windows 7, Vista, and XP, as well as Max OS X 10.5 and up, and Linux 2.6 and up. You get a one year warranty right out of the box, there’s an official iOS app in Apple’s App Store, and its rechargeable battery lasts up to four hours of continuous use.

Look like the drive for you? Find out about more ultra fabulous Kingston products by hitting our big [Kingston Portal], and you can see the rest of our hands-on videos from the event by heading to the portal for the [Pepcom Holiday Spectacular 2011]!

Titled “Microsoft vs. Linux” the video shows a cartoon penguin and a geeky looking guy who may well be Bill Gates as they struggle to understand each other. Linux ideas “seemed too childish to Microsoft” the video suggests, as Tux rows across the internet seas and Microsoft watches in blissful ignorance from the shore.

“There is no truce in sight” the video claims, but then follows it with “Or is there?” Microsoft Germany uploaded it with the message “Warm wishes for your 20th Anniversary. Be prepared for your birthday cake :-)” on July 13.

[via WinRumors]

This newest hardware project came about when the fine folks at CERN realized that there was no reason why the forward-thinking open-source software project based in LINUX should be the only one able to work in a community of leaders willing to collaborate for the greater good of the scientific world. CERN engineer and Open Hardware Repository founder Javier Serrano notes the following:

“For us, the drive towards open hardware was largely motivated by well-intentioned envy of our colleagues who develop Linux device drivers. They are part of a very large community of designers who share their knowledge and time in order to come up with the best possible operating system. We felt that there was no intrinsic reason why hardware development should be any different.”

While this wont be the first open source hardware project, or indeed the first open hardware project to get a license, it’s certainly one of the more exciting ones, the CERN project being one of the better known scientific projects the world over in recent years – notoriety on such a level brings great minds, that much is true!

One example of an open hardware project that’s already well on its way is White Rabbit, a project initiated to build a specialized network switch for timing synchronization in complex control systems — like the kind used by the LHC. An overview of this project can be found at the OHR and here:

White Rabbit is a fully deterministic Ethernet-based network for general purpose data transfer and synchronization. The aim is to be able to synchronize ~1000 nodes with sub-ns accuracy over fiber and copper lengths of up to 10 km. The key technologies used are physical layer syntonization (clock recovery) and PTP (IEEE 1588).

Make a whole lot of sense to you, average citizen? This is why we need the greatest minds from around the engineering world working on such fabulous projects, and in an open way. Because all work done inside the greater project is done in a share-alike license agreement, it must be shared with the ability to study, modify, and redistribute.

Verzion 1.1 of the Open Hardware Repository was published this week, having originally been drafted back in March, now available for anyone to take a look at inside the OHR website.

You may further access CERN’s Open Hardware Repository at http://www.ohwr.org/ – use it wisely! Same goes for the LINUX project they’ve got going which you can find out more about at http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/scientific6/ Currently available: BETA SLC 6.1 version is available as of 09.06.2011 – wins all around!

[via Ars Technica]

Adobe wrote in an official blog post that to offer support for the variety of Linux-based platforms across PCs and other devices it would be prioritizing a Linux porting kit for AIR including the source code. The porting kit will allow Open Screen Project partners to complete AIR programming and implementations on Linux PCs, TVs, mobile devices, and more. At the same time, Adobe is announcing that AIR 2.6 will be the last version of AIR released for Linux desktops directly by Adobe.

The porting kit will be the focus moving forward and support of partner implementations. Adobe claims this will allow it to provide broad support for AIR on Linux PCs through partner developments. Adobe claims that less than 0.5% of lifetime AIR downloads were its own desktop Linux release. Existing AIR apps for Linux hardware will continue to operate, but the user will not be able to install apps or updates that require later versions of Air unless the update is offered by an Adobe partner.

The tiny MimoPlug measures in at a scant 4.33″ L x 2.74″ W x 1.9″ H and when paired with one of the several MimoMonitors available makes for one of the smallest computer systems around. The system is aimed at the cloud-computing environment. The tiny little machine is good for local computing as well and can be operated 24/7 for retail kiosks, hotel guest services, network monitoring, employment applications, and all sorts of other needs.

Inside the computer portion of the system is a 1.2GHz CPU with 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of flash memory. It has 512MB of DDR2 RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, and a single USB 2.0 port. That port is where the monitor attaches. The machine can connect to the web and more. All of the screens that are bundled with the little computer are touch capable. Prices start at $399.98.

After several tests and numerous user reports, TorrentFreak discovered that Comcast subscribers from across the United States were unable to connect to The Pirate Bay. The traceroute was going to the right place, thepiratebay.piratpartiet.se, but the website would not appear. Further tests showed that the block is not DNS related. The Pirate Bay has now confirmed that one web server was down, but has now been fixed. Still, only certain users were unable to access the site. The Pirate Bay is investigating, and trying to fix the issue from their end if possible.

Comcast’s Executive Director Internet Systems Engineering, Jason Livingood, stated: “Please note that we do not block websites and we are NOT blocking The Pirate Bay.” It is strange, though, that only Comcast users were having problems accessing the site. Comcast does have a reputation of blocking BitTorrent in the past. In 2007, Comcast was found to be actively blocking BitTorrent traffic, which they later admitted to doing. This action by Comcast has fueled the Net Neutrality debate, and resulted in an investigation by the FCC and several lawsuits.

Are you a Comcast user who also uses The Pirate Bay? Have you had any problems? Let us know in the comments!

[via TorrentFreak]

A game developer named David Braben from the UK has been working on an interesting project that is aimed at making a very cheap computer that schools can give to children and allow them to take home for use in learning computer science and how hardware works. Braben thinks that the state of education about computers in school today leaves a lot to be desired and even the little laptops like the XO from the OLPC are more expensive than many schools can afford.

The cool computer that Braben has developed is very small and looks more like a flash drive than a computer. The device uses a stick design with an HDMI port on one end and a USB port on the other. The HDMI port is used to shoot video out to a TV or display and the USB port on the other end is for connecting the computer. The hardware on the stick computer is a 700MHz ARM11 processor coupled with 128MB of RAM. The small stick computer has OpenGL ES 2.0 compatible graphics, and storage is taken care of by a SD card slot. The computer can also have accessories attached to it. In the photo, a 12MP camera is attached and the device runs Linux. The price for the hardware is only about $25 making this very affordable.

[via Geek.com]

Bedrock claimed the Linux kernel at the heart of Google’s server farms infringed on their IP, and that the search giant should pay up accordingly. The courts agreed with Bedrock, and imposed the $5m fine. While the amount itself is small change for Google, the longer-term implications could be a significantly greater headache.

Patent activist Florian Mueller suggests that Google may have to exert considerable effort picking through the Android OS to make sure the same kernel issue isn’t present there. Without that reassurance, OEMs using Android – such as HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson – could find themselves facing demands for licensing fees as patent holders come out of the woodwork.

“Google might have to modify the Linux kernel it distributes with Android in order to remove the infringing code” Florian claims, “because otherwise there’s always the risk of contributory infringement should any app make use of that portion of the Linux kernel.”

[via Android Community]

Many people think of Linux as if it’s an operating system in competition with Windows. This isn’t really the case. There are some vocal users among the community that live to fight against the corporate machine, but most of us, we just like choices. Linux itself isn’t an operating system in the strictest sense of the word. Linux is just an idea about how an operating system works. The easiest way to think about it is as if every individual installation of Linux is it’s own operating system. That’s the principal difference between Windows and Linux. With Microsoft in your corner, you are playing their game. You’re in their Twilight Zone. Linux on the other hand… it’s all you baby.

With a little bit of effort the user can customise anything. Enterprising and generous hackers package their customized systems into distributions, each with a distinctive flavor. In fact, we love to call the various distributions different flavors of Linux. That’s a key term. There won’t be a quiz. Linux comes in as many flavors as there are programmers with a desire for something different from what’s out there. That’s it’s strength. Look up any of these to see some of the different possibilities; Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Crunchbang, E-Live, Debian, Red Hat, SUSE.

GNOME isn’t a distribution. It isn’t a flavor. So what is it?

GNOME is a lot of things really. It’s an expansive project that aims to provide a wide array of software tools. It’s meant to be an all-in-one automagic software package that you can install on any Linux system to get a functional and diverse desktop environment. The 3.0 Release changed a lot of the look and feel of the GNOME system. GNOME The new release is designed with the cloud in mind. It took them five years, and here it is.

Right now the new version of GNOME is supported by the openSUSE and Fedora projects. Those are Linux distributions, or distros for the cool kids. You can browse to here to try it out on a USB stick or a LiveCD.

[via Linux Journal]

Hercules has already offered an eCafe netbook in the past but it was really more of a me too offering that was basically the same as hoards of other netbooks on the market at the time. We reviewed the eCafe about this time last year. Hercules has now come back to the netbook market with something a bit different in a new couple of new eCafe machines including the Slim HD and the EX HD.

The Slim HD is under an inch thick and weighs in at 1.9 pounds making it very portable and the EX HD is a bit larger at 1.1-inches thick and 2.5 pounds. Both of the netbooks have 10-inch screens with 1024 x 600 resolution and HDMI outputs. The rigs also both run a custom Linux version and have ARM Coretex-A8 processors inside. Storage is to either 8GB or 16GB of flash and they have 512MB of RAM. I just don’t see these things luring anyone considering a tablet back to the netbook realm.

[via Engadget]

Silverlight is Microsoft’s answer to Adobe’s Flash. Moonlight is Novell’s Open Source implementation of Silverlight, it’s available as a plugin for both Firefox and Chrome. You can pick up Moonlight from Novell’s mono-project website. The problem is, Moonlight doesn’t really work, as of course Microsoft won’t release the workings for the PlayReady DRM component into the open source community. Why does this matter for Netflix? The instant-streaming application isn’t Flash based like Hulu, Youtube, vimeo and pretty much every single other streaming site out there. Netflix’s service is implemented using Silverlight, leaving it currently out of the hands of the Linux desktop user. All of these services work wonderfully in both Chrome and Firefox on my system. Needless to say, I canceled my service the next day.

[via Tech Republic]

First, Firefox has been redesigned with a new look that places web content on the center stage. App tabs are still at the heart of the interface, but Mozilla has also introduced a cool new Panorama feature which makes it easier to navigate multiple pages. It has enhanced the JavaScript engine to speed up both start up and page load times, up to six times faster than the previous version. Security wise, Firefox provides fortified security features like Do Not Track and Content Security which gives users greater control over their personal data and protect it from being used online.

Firefox also introduces the “Awesome Bar,” which is designed to make it easier to move to another webpage tab without opening duplicate tabs. Panorama takes tabs and drags and drops them into a group interface to manage them with greater ease. The new JavaScript Engine employs the JägerMonkey JIT compiler, enhancements to the existing TraceMonkey JIT and SpiderMonkey’s interpreter in concert to make page for greater speed and performance of Web apps and games. HTML 5 support is native to Firefox as well, with hardware acceleration for enjoying high definition videos on the web, 3D graphics, offline data storage and incorporates touchscreen interface support.

And now, when a plugin like Adobe Flash crashes, users won’t have to restart Firefox. Users can simply reload the page to restart the plugin. There’s also improved support for CSS, Canvas and SVG for web developers who want to keep their web sites on the cutting edge. There are also over 200,000 add-ons available continuing Firefox’s tradition of making the browser fully customizable and a personal experience. Users can download Firefox 4 at GetFirefox.com.

[via Mozilla Blog]

TUAW reports today that another hack has surfaced for AirPlay and this time it takes streaming outside of the Apple world and crams it inside an XMBC Linux machine. The machine running AirPlay in the video below is an Ubuntu Linux machine. TUAW also reports that several people have said they are working on a port for Windows rigs too.

I wonder how Steve Jobs feels about that. On the Linux machine, the content can be played directly from the integrated iOS video menus on the XBMC application that uses Bonjour.

The question NC had for their group of people living in the USA next was what mobile phone users who planned to upgrade to a smartphone next year was desired the most – what would you buy if you got exactly what you wanted? It seems that iPhone is in the lead here for those people who already own a smartphone of some kind, with Android being in second place for that crowd with 28% to Apple’s 35%, and Android beating Apple by 2 percentage points in the category for people who at the moment only have featurephones. After that, you can see the scales tip from iPhone and Android to “Not Sure” as age increases, and “Not Sure” and iPhone winning for females while males have an ever-so-slight preference for Android over iPhone, leaving the rest int he dust.

[Via Android Community]

You can have this sassy lady constructed, tested, and shipped to your door in less than a week if you’d like, and I imagine any smooth player from the streets would definitely like. I’m obligated to say by my Apple-loving self that a similar device running OSX would sell off the shelves in an instant. Think about the price comparisons! Cheep!

[Via ChipChick]

R3 Media Network

SlashPhone
HTC Merge Accessories Spotted in Wild
AT&T Announces Olympus Availabile December/January Via Facebook
BlackBerry Empathy Concept Made to Detect its Users Mood
Microsoft Retail Stores Offer Windows Phone 7 Devices For Free With Contract

Android Community
University of Missouri to offer goMizzou app on Android
Angry Birds on Android Downloads 7M copies
LG P990 Star smartphone surfaces with new UI pics
DROID 2 Global hits Wirefly for just $80
HTC considering E Ink and 3D displays/imaging for future devices?
Show off your Allegiance to the almighty Android in Call of Duty: Black Ops [LOLS]
AT&T and T-Mobile to possibly get Acer Liquid Metal?
NOOKcolor Rooted! [HOLY CRAP]
New LG Star Pictures and Details Leaked
Samsung GT-i9200 snapshots caught on Picasa

SlashGear
Barnes & Noble finances released: saved by NOOK
A Week with NOOKcolor: The Missing Link – Viewing Manually Loaded Books and What a Root Means for the Future [FEATURED]
FarmVille credit & exclusive items added to American Express reward scheme
Verizon 4G LTE event on December 1 will detail US roll-out
Windows Phone 7 update “took 3 months to do what Apple did in 3 years” tips developer
Google Earth 6 adds full Street View, 3D trees & more [Video] [MAP AS BIG AS WHATS MAPPED]
LG Optimus 7 uses NAND flash for storage
Project iPad magazine arrives in App Store
NASA holding press conference Thursday, has it found extraterrestrial life? [NEATO]
Linutop 3 fanless Atom-powered PC surfaces
Microsoft takes i4i case to Supreme Court
135k Windows Phone 7 sales tip Facebook stat watchers
Microsoft Kinect sells 2.5 million units in 25 days
Buy.com blows up on Cyber Monday
BlueAnt unveils new Q2 Platinum Bluetooth headset
HTC E Ink plus 3D displays & cameras in consideration tips job spec
SiliconPower unveils speedy E20 SSD
Comcast accused of internet abuse in latest net neutrality spat [NET NEUTRALITY NOW!]
Sanyo Pedal Juice box gives guitarists staying-power
High-Speed 500MB/sec CompactFlash next-gen standard proposed by Sony, Nikon & SanDisk
iPad goes free in Japan with Softbank deal
Google social networking drive delayed until Spring 2011?
Apple block PhotoFast MacBook Air SSD kit production?
Dell Vostro V130 adds HDMI & Hyperbaric Cooling, keeps ultraportable style
LG Star leaks, blows benchmarking out the water with Tegra 2

To see more wrap-up posts, follow the following tags: [The Daily Slash] or [SlashGear Morning Wrap-up]

The CPU inside the Linutop 3 is an Atom N270 running 1.6GHz. The little rig measures in at 23.5 cm x 23.6 cm x 5.5cm, making it nearly twice the size of the Linutop 2 machine. The Linutop 3 has no fan making it silent. Internal memory is 1GB of RAM and the machine can be upgraded to 2GB. The computer has 2GB of internal flash storage.

Other features include six USB ports, one com port, dual audio in and out ports, VGA and DVI outputs with GMA 950 graphics, and the machine has no fan. The OS is Linutop based on Ubuntu Lucid Linux. The machine has software installed that you will actually want including Firefox, Open Office, and VLC Media player. The Linutop 3 sells for 340 EUR.

Meanwhile alternative operating systems are also being explored. While the JooJoo currently runs a custom Linux OS, reselleres “are expected to utilize alternative operating systems such as Linux and Microsoft Windows.”

The current JooJoo will be removed from direct-to-consumer sale on November 19, and the next-gen line of tablets will neither use the brand name nor be backward-compatible. “We have learned a lot and will carry forward insight gained from joojoo to our new generation of products” CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan claims, though the company will continue to support the first-gen device.

[via BGR]

Press Release:

FUSION GARAGE EXPANDS SALES CHANNELS FOR TOUCH-SCREEN TABLET DEVICES

Company Signs Vertical Market Reseller Agreement for joojoo with Osaka, Japan-Based ASTEC Co. Ltd.; ASTEC to Customize joojoo for Business Applications

SINGAPORE–(11/18/10)–Fusion Garage, a designer and developer of touch-screen computing devices, today announced it has expanded distribution channels via a vertical market reseller agreement with Osaka, Japan-based ASTEC Co. Ltd. Through the agreement, ASTEC will customize Fusion Garage’s first generation Internet tablet, joojoo, for corporate applications. Fusion Garage will upgrade Joojoo’s internal storage capabilities to 16 gigabytes and ASTEC will customize joojoo’s operating system for business applications. Resellers, such as ASTEC, are expected to utilize alternative operating systems such as Linux and Microsoft Windows in joojoo.

Fusion Garage is also in discussions with other resellers and systems integrators to distribute joojoo in vertical markets such as medical, transportation, logistics and others that take advantage of its 12.1 inch form factor. The growing interest from vertical market resellers is anticipated to consume the remaining Joojoo inventory by the end of this year. As a result, Joojoo will no longer be available for direct-to-consumer sale via the Fusion Garage website as of November 19 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST). Fusion Garage remains committed to its joojoo customers and will continue support the device. Additional information on customer support will be available in the coming weeks.

Simultaneously, Fusion Garage has announced plans for a next generation product line which will include a new operating system built in part on Google’s Android OS. The new Fusion Garage products will not be backwardly compatible with joojoo nor will they carry the joojoo brand name. Those products are expected to reach market in the first half of 2011.

“We are very pleased by the rapidly increasing vertical market interest in joojoo,” said Fusion Garage founder and CEO, Chandra Rathakrishnan. “Companies such as ASTEC are able to do some very innovative customization of the product and enable joojoo to be used in business applications that go beyond our consumer focus. At the same time, this marks the end of joojoo as a product and a brand for Fusion Garage. We have learned a lot and will carry forward insight gained from joojoo to our new generation of products that we will introduce in the first half of 2011.”

No, wait, not Hitler. I meant Linux. Somebody brings up Linux.

[Image credit: House of Sims]

Yes, in the technology world, Linux is Hitler. I don’t mean Linux tried to conquer Europe and Asia and was responsible for the mass murder of millions of Jews, Catholics, Gypsies and disabled people. Not the real Hitler. I mean the other Hitler. The one that lives on in the heads of people who are out of touch with history; who think that all bad things are equal to each other, so they sling names like Hitler and Fascist and Nazi and Stalin, without realizing that the crazed ideals these dictators and regimes held are actually wildly opposing views. As the cliché goes, Hitler is the ultimate argument stopper. Once someone invokes the name and calls the other side Nazis, the argument has reached a ridiculous point, and its time to turn out the lights and go home.

That’s the Hitler I mean when I say Linux is Hitler.

In some ways, Linux is like Marcel Proust’s “La Recherche Du Temps Perdu.” Most English majors will claim that they have read Proust, but in fact few of them have even seen the six volume ‘novel’, considered the greatest literary achievement in the circles of English professors who grow beards and read poetry in severe voices and hold conversations in perfect iambic pentameter. In the same way, most people who enter an argument talking about their Linux box at home have no idea what they are talking about. They just know that Linux is something that the ultimate tech geeks get behind. They know it will win an argument.

It doesn’t matter the argument. If two people are arguing opposing sides in a technology conversation, a Linux user is waiting in the wings to step in. Mac versus Windows? Too obvious. That argument is made for Linux. iPhone versus Android? Easy, Android, because it was originally based on a system that was based on a system like Linux. Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD? Who cares, when I can download bittorrent files of Matroska videos and watch them in high definition on my Linux box.

Ultimately, the Linux side will enter the fray, and the argument ends. Everyone else gives up and walks away. It’s like two kids arguing over whether Derek Jeter deserved a golden glove award, and suddenly a third kid comes along and shames the first two because Futbol is the world’s most popular sport, while baseball is a boring pastime enjoyed only by a pompous country that dares call its uninspiring championship “The World Series.”

Who wants to argue with that? Even if the futbol kid is right, he’s missing the point. Now, I’m not generalizing all Linux users, and I’m not saying that Linux users make an incorrect argument. But sometimes, it’s better to play the game that’s happening on the field in front of you, rather than trying to convince the players that their game is stupid, and your game is the best.

The same goes for people who build their own computer. Building your own computer is Hitler. It’s a show-stopping argument. Why would I buy a MacBook Air? I can’t take it apart? Why would I buy an iPad? I can’t root it and load my own custom ROMs.

I had a friend in High School who would listen to us talk about going off to college, and she would look down her nose at us and sneer.

“I would never go to college,” she said. “You’re paying for someone else to tell you how to think. I want to go and do my own research.”

She wasn’t unintelligent, quite the opposite. She was too smart for her own good. She wanted to be an astrophysicist, and I have no doubt she had the brains and the talent to get there. But she tried to build her own path, and ultimately she failed. Now she’s an administrative assistant. There’s nothing wrong with being an admin assist, but she did not succeed in her plan.

Building your own stuff sounds great, and there are certainly benefits to doing it, but it’s not for everyone. And that’s okay. Sure, if you learn how to build and maintain a good Linux machine, you’ll have developed some useful skills in engineering, programming, logic and even economics. There is no doubt that building a computer can be a satisfying and a rewarding process. But it’s not for everyone, nor should it be.

That’s the foundation of our society. In fact, that’s the very definition of what society should be. I can live alone and farm the land, raise livestock, build my house, make my own clothes, etc. Or I can specialize in one of those things. I’ll raise the livestock, and I’ll find someone else to do the farming. I’ll find a building specialist for the house. I’ll find a tailor for the clothing.

Does the farmer then make fun of me for not knowing how to farm? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. He farms, he herds sheep, and keeps the cows healthy, and slaughters the chickens. Would it be rewarding if I learned how to farm? Probably, but I shouldn’t have to learn. I’m no better or worse if I learn or don’t, as long as I’m a contributing member of society and I can earn a living wage to get by. As our society grows more complicated, the jobs we take on grow more diverse, and we use a commodity to stand in for the time and effort each laborious task entails.

iFixit posted a “Self-Repair Manifesto.” It’s a great read, and I fully support the repair mentality. I think we should be repairing more gadgets and throwing away less. I think we should be upgrading more, and not tossing the old stuff when something new comes out. But I think someone else should handle the repair duties. The last gadget I tried to repair was my iPod classic. I tried to fix a broken screen. Now I have a pile of spare parts.

Am I an idiot for not being able to handle that simple repair? I know what I did wrong. I pulled on a cord that I believed was meant to come free, and ended up ripping necessary pieces off the logic board. If I tried the repair again, I certainly wouldn’t make the same mistake. But that’s not the point. I want someone else to do it, so I can have time to do the things I do best. That doesn’t make me lazy, far from it. That makes me a good cook, and a good writer, and an experienced analyst of cell phones and consumer electronics.

I place no value in my own ability to repair, just as plenty of folks place no value in the ability to write clearly and succinctly, or to weave an entertaining narrative. That’s what makes our society so amazing. We don’t have to do everything, we get to pick the things that we do well and try to offer those talents to the world. Whether it’s setting up a complicated operating system, building a computer from scratch or baking a molten chocolate cake with a perfectly oozing center, we don’t have to deprecate someone else’s talents just because they can’t do the things we do.

Instead we should all share, the technical geniuses, the great cooks, the entertainers, the doctors and auto mechanics and administrative assistants and builders. We should get together, watch a high-def movie on my white box laptop I built from scratch, eat some of my delicious cake, and talk about how worthless it is to be a lawyer.

The iLIVEx Pro is an X11 client for the iPad that is aimed at business pros and engineers that need to make presentations or perform remote diagnostics and more using the iPad. The iLIVEx Pro displays a web browser and remote Linux or Unix desktops on VGA compatible conference room projectors and digital TVs.

The device allows users to collaborate using session shadowing feature where multiple iPad and desktop users can connect to the same remote X desktop or app. The device also allows users to create new session on remote Unix and Linux servers. The device also lets iPad users enjoy Flash content and more over 3G connections.

That could happen within a month, according to Canonical, though the organization declined to comment on the speculation as to which company could be manufacturing it.  Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition includes a new UI, called Unity, which is specifically designed for smaller displays; it also supports touch and gestures for devices like tablets.  An Ubuntu Light version can boot into a functional state in just seven seconds, with a browser and messaging apps.

Press Release:

Latest Ubuntu Version Puts Focus on Consumers and Mobile
Ubuntu 10.10 adds features for desktop and netbook users

London, October 7, 2010: Canonical today announced the upcoming availability of Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop and Netbook Editions for download on Sunday, October 10.

Focused on home and mobile computing users, Ubuntu 10.10 introduces an array of online and offline applications to Ubuntu Desktop Edition with a particular focus on the personal cloud. Ubuntu Netbook Edition users will experience an all-new desktop interface called ‘Unity’ — specifically tuned for smaller screens and computing on the move.

Ubuntu One, the personal cloud service for Ubuntu users, includes new services and expanded features, significant performance enhancements and interoperability with other operating systems including Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone and Microsoft Windows.

The Ubuntu Software Centre, which gives users instant access to thousands of applications, games and tools, now includes the ability to purchase commercial applications, providing a unified portal for both free and commercial software. The Ubuntu community is putting renewed focus on attracting application developers and software publishers to make their work available to Ubuntu users. The universe of applications, both free and commercial, certified on Ubuntu continues to grow.

“Ubuntu 10.10 for desktops and netbooks is our most consumer-friendly release yet,” said Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical. “Ubuntu One’s personal cloud services will put Ubuntu at the heart of many users’ computing worlds even when they need or prefer to use other platforms. Unity has the opportunity to change how we think about our use of computers and the Software Centre will bridge Ubuntu with the applications users need to switch to the world’s best OS.”

Ubuntu One Basic, available free of charge, provides a personal cloud for sharing and syncing files, contacts, bookmarks and notes, with 2GB of free storage, access to music from the integrated store and (new in 10.10) a beta client for Windows allowing users to integrate their Windows and Ubuntu worlds.

As part of the paid Ubuntu One Mobile service, applications are now available for Android and iPhone so users can stream their music collections from their personal cloud to their mobile devices and synchronize contacts. Users might find that they need extra capacity so 20GB blocks of additional storage can be purchased on demand.

Unity is a new interface for Ubuntu that is making its debut in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. It is designed for highly mobile computing, making the most of precious screen space on mobile devices. The Unity interface also supports touch and gestures for the increasing number of devices that will support it, with larger icons and a more touch-intuitive interface.

Pricing and availability
Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop Edition is available free of charge for download from Sunday, October 10 from http://www.ubuntu.com.
Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition (featuring the Unity interface) is available free of charge for download from Sunday, October 10 from http://www.ubuntu.com.
Existing Ubuntu users can upgrade directly from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.
Ubuntu One is available from http://one.ubuntu.com.
Ubuntu One Basic is free of charge.
Ubuntu One Mobile costs USD $3.99 per month or USD $39.99 annually.
Ubuntu One 20-pack storage costs USD $2.99 per month or USD $29.99 annually for each 20GB package.
Ubuntu Software Centre and its applications can be accessed from the Ubuntu Applications menu.

There are ten individual units within the SMAVNET swarm, and each one of them are able to alter their speed in the air, as well as turn rate and altitude, based on the information gathered from the gyroscope and pressure sensors within the vehicles. The researchers hope that the swarm can be sent out into disaster areas, where they will be used to manufacture ad-hoc communication networks. Check out the video below to watch the swarm in action. Perhaps best of all, the researchers are running the swarm controllers on Linux, which can then speak to the swarm with any kind of WiFi dongle.

The idea is that the swarm would rely on one another, instead of workers on the ground, or GPS above them, to function correctly, based on signals sent from wireless signals. By relying on the other units of the swarm, researchers won’t have to worry about GPS signals or messages from the ground, which can be unreliable even in good conditions.

[via Wired]

It’s certainly compact enough to get lost under your HDTV, just 5.7 x 3.9 x 2.0 inches and made of sturdy metal and silver plastic. Although there are rubber feet for standalone use, you can also VESA mount it to the back of your display. Ports include audio in/out/microphone on the front, together with two USB 2.0 and a miniUSB, then VGA, HDMI, two further USB 2.0 and gigabit ethernet on the back. There’s also a DC power input – the external PSU is a reasonably small block – and a connector for the optional WiFi antenna.

Although described as barebones, there’s not a huge amount that the ARTiGO A1100 is missing. It comes with VIA’s single-core 1.2GHz U2500 Nano processor and the company’s VX855 MSP, the latter combining the GPU, Northbridge and Southbridge into a single chip. All the buyer need fit is a 2.5-inch SATA hard-drive and a stick of DDR2 SODIMM memory (up to 2GB). VIA don’t add WiFi as standard, but do offer an optional board which is easily connected, and there’s an optional SD card reader too.

Setup, then, is pretty straightforward, though you obviously also have to add the OS of your choice. Though the U2500 is happy with 64-bit platforms, don’t expect to get the full Windows 7 Ultimate experience from the A1100: the VX855 falls short of Aero compliance, meaning much of the graphical niceties in Microsoft’s flagship OS are absent, and multitasking with anything but the most basic of tasks is wishful thinking.

Opt for Windows XP or a Linux OS, however, and things are a whole lot slicker, though you might fall foul of VIA’s DirectX 9 limitations. We generally prefer the more flexible VLC over Microsoft’s own Windows Media Player app, but the VX855 lacks hardware acceleration for anything other than WMP. That leaves you at the mercy of the CPU.

In use, it’s a quiet system; not fanless, but the tiny 25mm fan is a discrete whirring and likely to be drowned out by whatever else is in the room. Unfortunately it’s also not especially capable, and the ARTiGO A1100 box gets very hot in use. We’d have happily accepted a little extra noise – and perhaps a slightly larger chassis – for a bigger, more effective fan. The miniUSB port is a neat addition, however, allowing you to hook the PC up to another computer and treat it as an external drive.

The CPU/GPU pairing was sufficient to play 720p HD video smoothly, but 1080p HD was less successful; at best we had some mild stuttering, while at worst there were multiple dropped frames and mis-matched audio. Obviously with no integrated optical drive or TV tuner, the ARTiGO’s HTPC credentials aren’t entirely solid. Office tasks and basic photo editing were more in line with the PC’s abilities, just as long as you’re content to do one thing at a time.

If the performance isn’t quite up to regular HTPC standards, neither is the basic functionality – at least not right now. We were unable to set the ARTiGO A1100 to boot up with its HDMI output active, instead finding it would always default to the VGA output. VIA is apparently working on a firmware update to fix this, but until that’s released it’s a frustrating flaw.

As with all barebones PCs, perhaps, the VIA ARTiGO A1100 isn’t really suited to a regular home user. With a street price of around $230 (budget $45 for the WiFi b/g adapter and $25 for the SD card reader) it’s cheaper than a prebuilt nettop, certainly, but factor in the time and money required to install an HDD, memory and OS, and then tweak the latter into giving the best performance with the CPU/GPU pairing, and you’re facing what’s obviously an enthusiast’s product.

If you’ve the patience and inclination, there’s plenty of potential for the VIA nettop. Its frugal power consumption makes it an ideal embedded device, as long as you’re willing to pretty much dedicate it to a single purpose: a simple file server, for instance. Unfortunately, what it won’t do is broaden VIA’s market among home users, at least until the company rolls out updated versions with faster, dual- and quad-core versions of the Nano CPU.

Linpus is planning on using MeeGo for their tablet device. They’re going to create a User Interface that makes use of not only touch-based input methods, but also gestures. They’ve also confirmed that they will be creating applications within MeeGo, created solely for touchscreen devices, like an eReader app, maps, a mail app, a Browser, and a media player. They’re even going to include a contact manager in there, too.

While Linpus is just focusing on the User Interface experience, considering their work with Acer in the past, there’s a good chance that the company gets their touch-based UI seen by customers all over the world, if they can manage to snag a ride on a PC manufacturer for awhile. As for a release, Linpus says they are planning on shipping the Lite Tablet Edition some time in the fourth quarter of 2010.

[via Liliputing]

“There’s no Linux version that we’re working on right now.” Doug Lombardi, Valve Corporation

At the time, despite the public identification of the binaries, Valve made no move to hide or remove them.  The company subsequently released Steam for OS X, bringing the service to Mac users, but has made no official comment until now about potential development of a Linux version.

[via Slashdot]

Connectivity is via Bluetooth, which tethers wirelessly to Martin’s iPhone, while input is through a Nokia Bluetooth keyboard.  The Beagleboard is running Angstrom Linux and outputting graphics through S-Video; the OS is stored on an SD card.

So far Martin has experimented with a few different ways to carry his compact computer: the bandolier strap gets geek-points, but squeezing everything into a CD wallet and wearing it on a discrete shoulder strap probably makes you stand out less in public.  The four AA batteries are good for up to three hours of use, though you could always slap a few more in if you don’t mind the extra weight.  Geeky, yes, but still very cool if you ask us.

There’s also apparently a web-browser, text-to-speech engine and a media player for images, audio and video.  Augen have been pretty ambitious in their ebook spec support, too; The Book will apparently display TXT, PDF, HTML, CHM, RTF, FB2, EPUB, PRC and MOBI files.

Update: The Ebook Reader picked up Augen’s The Book from their local kmart and has already reviewed it; more details after the cut.

We’re not expecting great things from the hardware or software, but for the price – down, apparently, from an MRSP of $99.99 – it could be something of a bargain.  No sign of the Augen The Book on the kmart site, however, so you’ll have to head down to your local store to see if they have any left on shelves.

Update: The Ebook Reader reckons it’s a mixed bag, with poor display of PDF files but strong indoor LCD performance.  No touchscreen, mind, and while there’s a full QWERTY keyboard there’s no facility to add text notes to ebooks.  More details in their video review below.

[via The Digital Reader]

That’s because, the Spotify team say, they’re yet to find “a reliable way to display ads yet”, meaning they’re unable to offer the Linux version for ad-supported free users.  That could change, though, as the team there work on enhancing the software; you can download it here.

[Thanks Andy!]

Airlie’s first argument is that by mixing open- and closed-code Qualcomm are producing a situation whereby the licensing issues aren’t clear; plus, there’s little way of knowing what the GPU is doing, exactly, if developers don’t have access to the full code.  Instead, developers are calling for Qualcomm to either open-source everything, or to produce a second, open-source version of their user-space driver which will live alongside their closed version.

[via Slashdot]

He used that insider access to make sure some hack-friendly features were included.  For instance, there are clearly labelled serial port connections on the mainboard, a “mini hack port” – with GPIOs and power – together with places to solder in a 3-axis accelerometer or a digital camera module.  He also describes how to take the unit apart, how to get into the OS via ssh, and how to install a native ARM compiler along with some other programming tidbits.

So, for $169.99 you’re getting a compact desktop Linux computer that, in its untinkered state can play Pandora streams, show internet photo galleries, load images from an integrated memory card reader, and run all the usual Chumby apps, or, with a little tampering, can do whatever your hacky heart desires.  Impressive stuff!

It’s not just going to work on one device, either. No, that means a wide range of support for a multitude of devices. From stand-alone tablets, to netbooks. Basically, the gadget needs to have touchscreen technology, and you’ll probably be good to go. (Jolicloud has a full list at their blog.)

The video shows the OS working just fine on a Samsung NB30 netbook. And, surprisingly enough, it looks like it’s actually pretty responsive. The HTML5-based interface seems to make it pretty snappy. As Jolicloud puts it, you’ll be able to use Jolicloud 1.0 right out of the box on touchscreen devices, and judging by the comments on their blog, it looks like people are ready to get their hands on the updated OS. What do you think? Is touchscreen support something you’re looking for?

[via Jolicloud Blog]